Time and Again
by LittleJaneway
Summary: I'm such a slacker, comes from working in a call centre I guess. Part 5 now up!
1. Part 1

Disclaimer: I own no one…they own me.  
  
(This takes place, sometime randomly during season five. There is no real time line to this story. The only real change I made to the characters was keeping Janeway's hair long. It killed me when they decided to go short with it…*sighs* I also chose the ponytail.)  
  
  
  
Part 1  
  
I took a sip of my coffee as I turned down the hallway. I was pretty much completely oblivious to anyone around me. I gave a nod to the crew members that caught my eye. Very few were actually out this early in the morning. I was surprised to see the few that I did. I stepped into the turbo lift, telling it to take me to the bridge.  
  
"Report." I said as I stepped off.  
  
"It's been a fairly quiet morning, Captain." Chakotay answered. He was looking intensely at a PADD in front of him. There was more on his mind than just a quiet morning.  
  
"Fairly quiet suggests that at least one thing has caught your eye." I said smiling at him as he looked up. His smile back sent shivers down my spine. No one could do that to me like he could.  
  
"Sensors did pick up something unusual not more than fifteen minutes ago." He said, his attention turning back to the PADD. "There is something we have never seen before about five light years from here."  
  
"Do we have any information on it?" I asked interested. I took another sip of my coffee before putting it on the edge of my chair and walking up to see what ensign Kim had collected on the unknown anomaly.  
  
"Sensors aren't getting anything on it, Captain." The young officer told me. I felt a slight ping of excitement.  
  
"Set a course Mr. Paris." I said with a smile  
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
"I'll be in my ready room if anyone needs me." I said collecting my coffee cup, and heading to the room just off the side of the Bridge.  
  
I sat down behind my desk and started to read crew reports, when the door chimed, as I knew it would.  
  
"Come in Chakotay." I said with a smile  
  
"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist checking it out." He said laughing when he walked in the door. "I knew that it would be just the thing to put a little kick in your step this morning."  
  
I laughed. "You know me too well."  
  
I'm not sure how, but Chakotay seemed to get more and more handsome everyday. Maybe it was just how well he knew me. He's had the time and the constant closeness to get to know me better than anyone else has. I'm not sure what I would do with out him.  
  
"We've been through a lot together Kathryn, that's what happens." He smiled at me. His eyes looked wistful, as if there was something more he wanted to say but couldn't. "Would you like me to let you know when we get there?"  
  
"Let me know when we come within a light years distance." I told him returning my eyes to the PADD.  
  
"Aye, Captain." Chakotay returned to the bridge.  
  
I sat there in the silence, trying to catching up on the work that I had let get behind. It wasn't major stuff, just stuff that should be kept up for organizational reasons. I was a bit distracted by what we might find out there. We have encountered so many things the five years we have been in the Delta Quadrant. Not all have been welcoming.  
  
I decided that after about an hour of sitting, pretending to do work, to go back out to the bridge to see how much further we had to go.  
  
"Report." I said as I walked on to the bridge. I went to sit in my chair.  
  
"We are about a light years distance away now Captain. We were just about to call you." Tom Paris said.  
  
"What can I say? I have incredible timing." I joked. "On screen."  
  
The large view screen at the front of the bridge flickered for a moment before showing the stars in front of us. Unfortunately that is all there was, Stars. The screen showed nothing different than it had ten minutes ago.  
  
"Well where is it?" I asked.  
  
"According to our sensor readings, it should be here Captain." Ensign Harry Kim said. He was furiously going over the data the sensors had collected  
  
"Tom, hold our position. I'm going to go check with Seven down in astrometrics. She might have something useful. The bridge is yours Commander." I said leaving the bridge. The hiss of the turbo lift was more irritating then usual. It left me feeling uneasy. This whole thing had bad news written all over it. Or maybe I was just getting overly cautious with every moment more I spent in the Delta Quadrant.  
  
When I stepped into the astrometrics lab, Seven already had the data up on the view screen trying to make sense of it.  
  
"What do you have?" I asked her  
  
"It appears to be a rift in space time Captain." She said coolly, but interested. "I'm not quite sure how to explain it. Some thing is there it's just not showing up."  
  
"Is it to small to show?" I asked. I hated being blind.  
  
"No. It appears that it doesn't want to be seen, Captain." She said. I smiled at her choice of words.  
  
"Is there anything we can do to make it visible to us?"  
  
"There might be, but it will take some time." She said carefully studying the data on the console in front of her.  
  
"Let me know when you have something." I told her.  
  
"Yes, Captain."  
  
My combadge beeped. "Janeway here." I said tapping it.  
  
"It's me captain." The Doctors voice came through loud and clear. "I think you should come down to sick bay. We have a slight problem."  
  
"I'm on my way."  
  
I made my way down to deck five. Once I entered the sickbay I noticed four crewmen lying on beds. Some with plasma burns others, others just looked sickly.  
  
"Captain, I'm glad you're here." The Doctor said coming out of his office to meant me.  
  
"What is going on here?" I asked worried.  
  
"To tell you the truth Captain I'm not sure." His brow furrowed slightly. "Three crewmen have come in with plasma burns that they apparently got from nothing, and four others have come in experiencing an extreme viral infection."  
  
"What kind of viral infection?" I wondered.  
  
"The kind we were exposed to about two years ago." The Doctor said quietly.  
  
"The Macovirus?" I asked amazed. "But we wiped that out."  
  
"Yes I know. Which makes it easy to treat now, but no less troubling. I just thought you should know what's been going on down here."  
  
"Thank-you Doctor." I said.  
  
I turned to leave sickbay, when the ship rocked violently, throwing me against the wall. The Doctor rushed over to me tri-quarter in hand. I waved him off  
  
"I'm fine Doctor. Just a little shaken." I lied. My right side hurt like a bitch.  
  
"You have two broken ribs." The Doctor argued. "You are not just fine."  
  
"How did I manage to get two broken ribs? I may have fallen but I did not fall that hard." I stated. The Doctor helped me over to one of the bio- beds.  
  
"Not enough calcium maybe?" The doctor joked.  
  
I tapped my combadge. "Janeway to Chakotay." He rang in a second later.  
  
"Chakotay here Captain."  
  
"What was that?" I asked.  
  
"We're not sure yet. It appears to have come from the special anomaly."  
  
"Keep me posted. Janeway out" I tapped my combage, closing the connection.  
  
I heard the quiet beeping of the scanner as the Doctor ran it over my side. "Hmm." He said perplexed.  
  
"What is it Doctor?" I said slightly annoyed. I didn't need anymore bad news today.  
  
"Well," He started. "It appears as though I have treated these wounds before."  
  
"What?" I said shocked. I tried to sit up forgetting the broken ribs. I groaned in pain. The Doctor laid me back down.  
  
"Try to lie still." He told me.  
  
"The only other time I have had broken ribs while on this ship…" I stopped short.  
  
"Was when the macrovirus was on the ship." The Doctor finished for me.  
  
"What the hell is going on around here?" I questioned loudly.  
  
"As soon as I'm done here you can go figure that out, until then, please lie still so I can heal these fractures." The Doctor said sternly.  
  
I lay quietly on the bed for the next fifteen minutes while he fixed my broken bones. Seven had mentioned that it appeared to be a rift in space- time, but why cause old injuries to resurface? When the Doctor was done, I thanked him, told him to keep me updated and headed to see Seven. If anyone knew what was going on here, she would.  
  
~~*~*~~  
  
  
  
I made my way to the Astrometics lab, where Seven was working furiously at the console.  
  
"Do you have any news?" I asked her. I brushed a stray hair from my eyes and placed it back into my ponytail.  
  
Seven gave a frustrated sigh. "No, Captain I have not. For some reason the sensors are able to penetrate it far enough to get a reading on what it actually is. I'm trying to recalibrate, but it will take a while yet. Until then we are going to have to treat it as a enemy and be on the defensive."  
  
"Do you think it attacked us?" I asked her.  
  
"I'm not sure, but until I am, it would be wise to treat what happened as an attack." Seven advised.  
  
"Thank-you Seven." I said turning to leave.  
  
I slowly made my way back to the Bridge. Although the Doctor had set the bones, my side was still fairly tender. It wasn't easy convincing the Doctor to let me leave sickbay. Not that he would have expected me to stay, He knows unless I was seriously injured that there would be no way I would stay in sickbay when something was endangering my ship and crew. When I reached the bridge, Chakotay was pouring over reports, looking slightly perturbed.  
  
"Did we take any damage during the attack?" I asked walking to my chair.  
  
"No and yes." He answered me  
  
"Excuse me?" I asked confused.  
  
"We didn't take any direct damage, but parts of the ship have changed." Harry explained. I looked up at him confused.  
  
"Changed how?" I asked.  
  
"For starters, cargo bay two, has turned back into a Borg command centre." Chakotay said. "There is no Borg." He reassured me after seeing the expression on my face. The last thing we needed were Borg drones walking about the ship.  
  
"What else?" I asked needing to know the status of my ship.  
  
"It appears we are missing torpedoes." Tuvok said. "Although I'm not even completely sure about that. Sometimes the reading is what it should be, other times it appears as though we only have six left."  
  
"Six? There was never a point in time when we were down to six torpedoes." I said confused. Frankly I was starting to get a bit annoyed. "Does anyone have any idea what is going on here?" I asked annoyed.  
  
"Other than we seem to be experiencing some time changes to certain parts of the ship, I haven't the slightest idea." Harry said. "I do believe we should pull away from what ever that thing out there is. I'm almost certain that, that's what's causing all of this."  
  
"I agree. Mr. Paris, bull back from, what ever the hell that is." I ordered.  
  
"Yes, ma'am." He agreed willingly.  
  
"Chakotay, will you join me in my ready room?" I said gesturing him tom join me.  
  
Once we had entered and the door had slid closed behind us, I turned to him. Too fast however and a shot of pain ran through my side. I tried to hide my pain. If he noticed, he didn't say anything.  
  
"We have got a big problem here." I told him. "Not only is the ship experiencing time differences, but crewmen are popping up with old injuries that they have already gotten." I walked over to the couch and sat down. Chakotay followed.  
  
"We can't even figure out what is happening let alone find a way to protect the crew from it." Chakotay sighed.  
  
"There has got to be something we can do." I sighed.  
  
"I'm not sure there is. Until we know exactly what's happening here, our hands are pretty much tied" He said. I turned to stare out the window.  
  
"It's hard to fight something you can't see." I sighed. "This could turn out to be really bad. What if it starts doing things to us that happen in the future? I mean there is probably stuff we face in the future that is ten times dangerous than what we have already faced."  
  
"It could turn out to be bad, but we'll get through it. We always do." He smiled at me.  
  
"What would I do with out you?" I asked smiling at him.  
  
"You probably would get less headaches." He joked.  
  
"This is true." I laughed. "I probably would have crashed the ship by now too."  
  
"I don't think so. You're a strong woman Kathryn. You wouldn't have let anyone get to you more than you do now." He placed his hand on mine. It sent shivers down my spine.  
  
The ship rocked. Harder than last time. It threw me off the couch hitting my head hard against the table. Chakotay managed to stay on the couch, but rushed to me after the ship had regained its balance. I grabbed a hold of his arm to help me to my feet. The two of us then made our way back to the bridge.  
  
"Report." Chakotay said. He helped me to my chair. I was slightly dizzy.  
  
"We were hit with some sort of bio-energy, commander." Harry answered. "It came from the anomaly."  
  
"Captain, we appeared to have moved closer to it." Tuvok said.  
  
"Closer to it? I thought I gave the order to pull away?" I asked turning to Tom. He was sitting at the helm looking confused.  
  
"Captain, according to sensors I did move us away, it just moved us back." He said annoyed.  
  
"How did it do that?" I asked confused.  
  
"Apparently, the bio-electric energy beam was a tractor beam." Tuvok answered.  
  
"I have never known a tractor beam to shake a ship so violently." Chakotay said. "It had to have been more than that."  
  
"Seven." I said taping my combadge.  
  
"Yes captain." She answered.  
  
"Can you come up to the Bridge please?" I asked her.  
  
"On my way." Came her quick answer.  
  
"Seven has been working on this thing since we first spotted it." I explained to Chakotay. "Maybe she can shed some light on this." I felt blood slowly dripping down my forehead. I reached my hand up to whip it away.  
  
"Here let me get that." Chakotay said pulling a handkerchief out of the inside pocket of his uniform. He dabbed my forehead softly, but it still made me flinch. "You should really go down to sickbay and get this looked at." He said.  
  
"I should do a lot of things." I sighed.  
  
"He's right captain. You should get that looked at." Tom spoke up. "It's a bit more than a scratch."  
  
"I'll get around to it." I said. The turbo lift doors hissed open and Seven stepped out. "Just the lady I wanted to see." I said as she stepped out. I pulled a way from Chakotay, and stood up to meat her.  
  
"You are damaged." She said. If she weren't Borg I'd say she almost seemed concerned.  
  
"It's not that bad." I sighed.  
  
"I was talking about you side." Seven said matter-of-factly. I saw Chakotay look up at me out of the corner of my eye.  
  
"Did you get anywhere on the anomaly?" I asked her, changing the subject.  
  
"I believe it to be a being of some kind." She answered. "The weapons they use are made up of bio energy. I recommend, leaving this area of space."  
  
"I agree with Seven." Tuvok said. "It is not in our way home. It would be logical to find away around it instead of staying here to fight it. We have no need for conflict against an unknown species."  
  
"We've tried that already." I said walking over. "We ended up right back here."  
  
"We only moved away." Chakotay said. "What if we were to move away completely? Get back on our original course?"  
  
"It's worth a try captain." Seven agreed.  
  
"Get us back on our original course Mr. Paris." I ordered. "I don't have any other idea's, and I'm not sure if I want to put my crew through anymore of this."  
  
"Aye, Captain." Tom said as he punched in a new set of coordinates.  
  
"Maybe you should go down to sickbay and see the doctor now Captain." Seven suggested.  
  
"I'll be fine." I assured her.  
  
"She's right Captain. You don't need to be here right now." Chakotay said. He gave me a look of concern. "You should go get the doctor to look at that." He said pointing to my head.  
  
"Alright, not to get rid of my headache then to at least stop the nagging." I laughed.  
  
I stepped in to the turbo lift and headed down to see the Doctor. Seven had decided to stay on the bridge. She could do her calculations from there. When I entered sickbay, the bio beds that were full earlier were now empty.  
  
"No more problems here Doctor?" I asked him. He was sitting in his office, concentrating on the screen in front of him. He jumped when I spoke.  
  
"Captain, I didn't hear you come in." He said nervously as he stood up to greet me.  
  
"It's ok Doctor. You looked busy." I said smiling.  
  
"And you look like you've taken another nasty fall." He said taking out is tricorder.  
  
"I'm fine." I insisted.  
  
"Are you experiencing any dizziness?" He asked me.  
  
"A bit. Nothing major." I sighed. I walked over and sat down on a bio bed.  
  
"Yes, well you have a mild concussion, but it could have been worse." He sighed.  
  
The sickbay doors hissed and Chakotay walked through.  
  
"Anything wrong commander?" I asked. He had that look on his face. The look he gets when he's overly concerned about something, but didn't need to be.  
  
"Just something Seven said to you on the Bridge." Chakotay said. "About your side being damaged?"  
  
"It's nothing." I said waving him off.  
  
"She broke two ribs this morning." The Doctor jumped in.  
  
"Kathryn?" Chakotay asked? I nodded. "You should have been resting. Not up on the bridge." He lectured.  
  
"I'm fine." I said for the tenth time today.  
  
"You should take some time to actually rest now." Insisted the Doctor. "Head injuries don't take kindly to not being allowed to heal properly."  
  
"Yes Doctor." I said humouring him. I had no intention of taking it easy, until I was sure we were out of harms way. "Have you had anymore problems this morning?" I asked him.  
  
"No I haven't." The Doctor smiled. "You are the only one who has come in since the seven I saw this morning."  
  
"Good." Chakotay said. "Maybe this thing is behind us."  
  
"Lets Hope." I sighed.  
  
  
  
~~*~*~~ 


	2. part 2

Part 2  
  
Chakotay and I left sickbay moments later, with another warning form the doctor to take it easy. I just nodded then left.  
  
"You really should listen to him." Chakotay said.  
  
"I'll take it easy." I said. "Since when is taking care of this crew a dangerous job?" He looked at me like I was crazy. "Okay, bad example." I sighed. "I promise, when I'm sure we're in the clear I'll take it easy."  
  
"You should take it easy ever while your waiting." Chakotay said softly. "If we aren't clear of this thing, the ship will need its captain at full strength."  
  
"They'll have me at full strength. I'm always at full strength." I joked.  
  
"Not with broken ribs and a concussion."  
  
"How did I know you were going to send that back on me?" I sighed. We stepped into the turbolift. "Bridge." I told it.  
  
"Computer halt Turbo lift." Chakotay said seconds after it had started. He turned to me. He had a worried look on his face. "Kathryn, how come you didn't tell me about what happened this morning?"  
  
"I didn't think it was important for you to know. Plus I knew you'd get worried." I said looking into his eyes. There was a quietness about them, but at the same time a wildness that would probably never go away. I remember the first time I looked into his eyes. They were angry and hard. There was none of that now.  
  
"You're my captain and my friend, it's part of my job to worry." He said with a smile.  
  
"Is it now?" I asked returning his smile. "Well who am I to stand in the way of a man and his job?"  
  
"Computer resume." He said and the turbolift started to hum once more. Despite the pain in my head and the pain in my side, I couldn't get rid of the silly grin on my face.  
  
"Report." I said walking onto the bridge.  
  
"We're holding course Captain." Tom said.  
  
"How far from the anomaly are we?" Chakotay asked.  
  
"This can't be right." Harry said.  
  
"What is it ensign?" I asked worried.  
  
"According to sensors we are less than a light year away." Harry said. I looked up at Seven who was checking the data at her station. She sighed heavily before lifting her head.  
  
"He is correct captain." She said calmly.  
  
"Tom?" I question turning to face my helmsmen.  
  
"We haven't changed course Captain." He said. "At least not according to my reading anyway." He turned to face me with a worried look on his face.  
  
What is going on here?" I asked confused.  
  
"The readings are to scattered. I can't get anything." Harry said.  
  
"Seems to be the story of the day." I said throwing up my arms in frustration. "Is there anything that we can figure out?"  
  
"We're being hailed." Harry said. "Audio only."  
  
"Well that's a start." I said standing up slowly. "Put it through."  
  
"Captain Kathryn Janeway." The cold voice ran over the commsystem. "I knew you would come."  
  
"Funny how you know who I am but I haven't the slightest idea who you are." I remarked.  
  
"Just because you don't recognize my voice don't mean you don't know who I am." The voice said.  
  
"Do you have a name?" Chakotay asked.  
  
"Ah the beloved first officer." The voice mocked. "You could be my main problem"  
  
"Who are you and are you what's keeping my ship here?" I asked annoyed.  
  
"I am what's keeping you ship here, and I do have a name, but it's not important now." The voice said.  
  
What if I decide it is?" I asked. "In order to give you what you want or help you, I'm going to need your name."  
  
"Here Kathryn, you do not make the choices." The voice said. I could hear him smile. "Here I make the decisions. You aren't in control anymore."  
  
I sat back down in the chair. Something about this voice did seem familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. Something about if frightened me.  
  
"It bothers you doesn't it? That your not in control of the situation." He mocked me. The voice didn't seem to be coming from the commsysytem anymore. It came form everywhere.  
  
What's going on?" Harry asked. "Who is this guy?" I raised my hand to silence him.  
  
"Vengeance Kathy. That's what I want." Then it was quiet.  
  
"Hello?" I called out, but there was nothing.  
  
"That was strange." Harry commented.  
  
"Do you know what he meant be that?" Chakotay asked me. I just sat dumbfounded. I hadn't the slightest idea what just happened let alone what was meant by anything that was said.  
  
"No." I said quietly.  
  
I excused my self and walked to my ready room. Chakotay would be able to handle things; right now I needed to find out who would want vengeance on my crew and me. This was shaping up to be a very bad day.  
  
I sat in my ready room for a good while thinking about the voice. It seemed so familiar. I f I could just put my finger one who's it was, maybe I could figure out what they wanted, or at least try to right the wrong that was done. I walked over to the replicator and got my self some coffee. I needed it to help me think. The door chimed and Tuvok came in.  
  
"Captain I though you would like to know that state of the ship." HE said handing me a PADD. I put it down on my desk.  
  
"Thank-you Tuvok." I said.  
  
"Everything appears to have returned to normal. The Borg command centre is no longer occupying cargo bay two, and all weapon banks are at the proper capacity." I told me. I nodded. "Captain, can I ask you a question?"  
  
"Yes." I said walking behind my desk and sitting down.  
  
"Have you figured out who our enemy is?" He asked me.  
  
"No. I haven't." I said. "But I'm sure I know him from somewhere. The voice was so familiar."  
  
"I too recognized the voice. It was one I haven't head in a long time."  
  
"I had the same feeling. Normally I would remember these things, but for some reason today, I can't seem to do anything quite normal." I sighed.  
  
"Maybe I can help." He said.  
  
"Do you mean you remember?" I asked.  
  
"Vulcan's have and easier time remember thing than most humans." He said walking over r to the window and looking out at the stars. "Do you remember when we served together on the Oceanos?" I nodded. "We came into contact with an emery whose power rivalled that of a Q." He explained.  
  
"Yes. The only difference was they could be killed." I said. Things were starting to come together.  
  
"Yes. There were actually quite easily defeated once they appeared. One however was only ever killed." He said.  
  
"I remember." I nodded. "It appeared on the bridge and started attacking the captain with some sort of bio-energy. I tried stunning it with my phaser, but even on the lowest setting, I killed it." I said quietly.  
  
"You were not to blame, you were protection the captain and you had no way to tell that such a light blow would kill it."  
  
"I know." I sighed.  
  
"However, its brother did seem quite upset with you."  
  
"I apologized to him, but it wasn't enough." I lamented. I hadn't thought about this in a long time. "He was so angry and his voice—" I paused to think. "His voice. That is who is out the."  
  
Tuvok nodded. "And the vengeance he is after, is not on the crew, but on you."  
  
~~*~*~~  
  
After Tuvok and I were done talking, we decided the best route of action was to brief the senior officers and come up with some kind of game plan. I explained to them everything. Who the enemy was, what he wanted, and the history behind it.  
  
"Couldn't you explain to him that is was an accident?" asked B'Elanna Torres. "I mean it wasn't as though you wanted to kill his brother. He was attacking your captain for Christ sake." She said firey.  
  
"We've already tried that. He doesn't care." I sighed.  
  
"We could make him." B'Elanna said under her breath.  
  
"Does he want you dead?" Tom asked quietly/  
  
"I'm sure if it was just that he would have killed her already." Chakotay said quietly. It was the first time I heard him say anything since I told them what happened.  
  
"I have learned that when most crave vengeance, it is not the death that's important, but the suffering." Seven said. Her voice faltered slightly. The thought of that made my hands shake as I reached for my coffee cup.  
  
"Well what can we do?" Harry asked.  
  
"I have some shield modifications I would like to try." Seven said.  
  
"And I can try to get more power to the engines, se we can pull away from here." B'Elanna suggested.  
  
"Okay." Chakotay said taking charge. "Harry you work with B'Elanna and Tuvok you work with Seven. Let's try to get these modifications done as quick as possible."  
  
"Dismissed." I said when Chakotay was done. Everyone got up to leave, save for Chakotay and me. I just sat starting at my coffee cup, while he stared at me.  
  
"We'll get through this." He said calmly.  
  
"I know." I said giving him a weak smile. "I worry most about the stuff he will try to pull." Chakotay looked at me confused.  
  
"What do you mean?" He asked.  
  
"I mean, if he knows what I fear, what will torment me most, what will stop him from doing it?" I said quietly.  
  
"We will. Or we will try." Chakotay said putting his hand on my arm. "We aren't going to let him hurt you Kathryn."  
  
"I know." I said again. "I should go look over the crew reports I didn't get to this morning." I said standing up.  
  
"You should go rest." Chakotay said worried.  
  
"I don't think I could sleep now even if I wanted to." I said annoyed.  
  
"You could always get a sedative from the doctor." He suggested.  
  
"I'd rather do some work to get my mind of things." I smiled. "But thank you for your concern."  
  
"Kathryn I'm serious. You need to rest. You got two serious injuries today. The only way they will heal fully is if you get some rest." He lectured.  
  
"You starting to sound like the doctor." I laughed. He smiled at me.  
  
"I'm just worried you'll wear you self out. People make easy pray when they are warn out."  
  
"You obviously don't know me that well commander. I am never easy pray." I gave him a playful smile.  
  
"I know." Was all he said. I think I saw a glint in his eye.  
  
"Okay. I'll go ask the doctor for something, and I'll head to bed." I gave in. That smile was just too much for me.  
  
"Thank you." He said.  
  
I walked out of the briefing room and headed towards Sickbay. The doctor was more than willing to give me something to help me sleep, seeing as he had been trying to get me to rest all day. I then headed to my room. Once I hit the bed I quickly drifted off to sleep.  
  
I dreamt of strange things. Of being all alone in Voyager, which was seconds from falling apart. Everywhere I turned there was another dead body of a crewmember. The worst part about it was everyone seemed to have been going about they're business. No one knew what had happened. I lost my entire crew in only seconds. I continued walking around the ship, hoping to find someone who was alive. I did. I entered Chakotay's room and found him lying under a pile of debris. He was conscious and in a lot of pain. He held my hand and said he was sorry, and then died there in my arms.  
  
I woke up shaking with sweat pouring down the sides of my face, and my hair sticking to the back of my neck. Nothing prepaired me for that. I might have been ok if the dream hadn't been so real. I actually had to turn the lights on to make sure I didn't have blood on my hands. I laid back down and curled up in my blankets so that nothing could get in and tried to get back to sleep. When I woke up the second time it was because Chakotay was shaking me. I sat straight up, quite surprised to see him there.  
  
"Kathryn are you okay?" He asked me. He had a look of panic on his face.  
  
"What are you doing here?" I asked him, my voice trembled a bit.  
  
"We tried calling you, but you didn't answer. So I came down to look for you. You didn't answer your door, so I overrode the codes and came in to find you tossing and turning and screaming in your sleep." Chakotay explained.  
  
"I didn't think I was in that deep of sleep. Then again to have the vividness of the dreams I was having, I must have been in a very deep sleep." I sighed. I was still shaking slightly.  
  
"Do you remember what you were dreaming about?" He asked me as I knew he would.  
  
"The first one I remember, the one I just had, I do not." I explained.  
  
"What was the first one about?"  
  
"I don't particularly care to discuss it." I said resting my head in my hands.  
  
"It will make you feel better." Chakotay smiled at me.  
  
"No it won't." I said shaking my head. I pulled the blanket off me and got out of bed. Chakotay stood up at the same time and turned me to face him. He looked deep into my eyes.  
  
"I have never seen you this scared before." He said quietly. He cupped my face with his hand.  
  
"You didn't see what I saw." I replied trying to fight back the tears. I took his hand from my face hand held it for a moment, before letting it fall.  
  
"If you tell someone it loses its power." Chakotay said as I walked away from him. I turned again to face him. He really did want to help, but how could I tell him what I saw? I could barely even think about it, let alone put it in words.  
  
"Maybe." I nodded. "But I'm not ready to yet."  
  
"Promise me you'll let me know when you are." He said to me.  
  
"I will." I gave him a weak smile.  
  
"I'll see you on the bridge." Chakotay said. Then he turned and left. I quickly got changed into my uniform and headed to the bridge.  
  
When I got to the bridge everything was quiet. Harry and B'Elanna were still working down in engineering, and Tuvok and Seven were still working on the shields. Tom was slated to work the morning in sickbay, so ensign Lansin was at the helm. I went to my ready room to look at the crew reports from the night shift.  
  
The quiet was starting to get to me. A couple of times when I looked up, I could have sworn the bulkheads had fallen down around me. Once I thought I heard the red alert alarm go off. I stood up and stretched to clear my head. I walked over to the window and sat down on the couch underneath it. Finding myself starting to doze off, I got off the couch and headed back to the bridge. Chakotay entered, just as I was exiting. We bumped heads.  
  
"Hello." I said rubbing my head at the spot where we collided.  
  
"You do seem to have unusual timing don't you?" Chakotay asked laughing.  
  
"It runs in my family." I joked.  
  
"I just came to see how you were doing. You've been in here for almost six hours." He said.  
  
"Has it really been that long? It only felt like an hour or so." I said confused.  
  
"So, your losing time now?" He asked concerned.  
  
"No, I'm just getting caught up in what I'm doing." I lied. He was already worried enough, I didn't need to add to it. He gave me look that said he didn't believe me, but wasn't going to push it.  
  
"The modifications are completed. Although there is no way to be sure they will work until the next attack." Chakotay said.  
  
"The next attack." I nodded. I was worried that I wouldn't be ready for the next attack, even if the ship was.  
  
"Captain, you seem a bit distracted. Are you sure that there is nothing bothering you? Other than the obvious I mean." Chakotay asked me.  
  
"I'm fine. Just tired." I said. He continued to give me a look of concern. I held his gaze, trying to show him that there was nothing for him to be worried about, when the right side of his face started to erupt with plasma burns. I gasped in shock, and stumbled backwards. He started to walk towards me, very obviously in pain. The burns kept spreading, down his neck and on to his hands.  
  
I tried to call sickbay, but the commsystem wasn't working. Chakotay made is way over to me. I tried to support him, but he was to heavy for me. We collapsed on to the floor, and I held him as he gasped for air. 


	3. Part 3

**Disclaimer**: I own no one…especially not any of these people. But the story is mine…don't take it.

**Note**: I apologise for this taking so damn long, but I kept forgetting I had even written it. Hopefully the next part wont take nearly as long.

Part 3

                Someone shook me, causing a tear to fall from my eye, but also getting me to look up to see who it was. It was Chakotay.  I looked down at my lap, but nothing was there. Everything I has just witnessed hadn't actually happened.

                "Kathryn, what's wrong?" Chakotay asked me. I couldn't respond, all I could do was sit there and stare up at him. How do you tell someone you are so close to that you just saw him die in your arms?

                "Kathryn?" Chakotay said again. Again I didn't respond, except by shaking uncontrollably. "Chakotay to transporter room 2. Beam the Captain and I directly to sickbay."

                The scenery around me changed and I was now in sickbay. The doctor rushed over. Chakotay picked me up and placed me on the bio bed.

                "What happened?" The doctor asked.

                "I'm not sure. One minute we were talking, the next minute she was stumbling backwards afraid of something. She collapsed on the ground, and when I went to see what was wrong she didn't respond, she just started shaking." Chakotay explained.

                The doctor put the medical tricorder back on the tool cart. "It appears as if she's gone into shock" He said. "There are extra blankets on the other bio beds, we need to get her temperature back up."

                "What do you think caused it?" Chakotay asked as he went and fetched the blankets. 

                "I'm not exactly sure. Her blood pressure and heart rate are dropping. Whatever it was it was extremely traumatic." The doctor prepared a hypo-spray. He gave it to me right before Chakotay wrapped the blankets around me. He sat next to me and held me close, which for some reason caused me to shake more.

                "Doctor, she feels like she getting worse." Chakotay said panicking. The doctor examined me again with the tricorder.

                "Her temperature is still dropping. We need to increase her heart rate." He said.

                Chakotay stepped back as the doctor gave me another hypo-spray. This one seemed to calm me down a bit more, but the beeping on the tri-quarter made me believe that wasn't the best thing to happen.

                "What's happening?" Chakotay asked worried. He rushed over to the doctor's side.

                "Her body isn't responding to anything I give it. In fact, it's making it worse." The doctor explained.

                Chakotay sat down on the bed next to me and held me as I continued to shake uncontrollably. I hated being this helpless.  I tried my hardest to keep my self out of positions where I was this helpless.

                "Commander, would you take it the wrong way if I told you not to move?" The doctor asked him.

                "Why?" Chakotay questioned.

                "Well for whatever reason, as soon as you got there, her heart rate picked up a little. Not much, but enough for me to say, stay right where you are." 

                "Do you know what caused it yet?" Chakotay asked. I closed my eyes. I didn't need to see the doctor run around looking for answers about my health. It was making me dizzy.

                "I think it's safe to say she was hallucinating. What of I couldn't tell you, only she can, if she will."  The doctor explained. Chakotay stroked my hair softly, and for the first time in the last 24 hours I felt safe.

                "I'm sure she'd tell us if she thought it relevant." Chakotay said. I heard the doctor chuckle.

                "Commander, with all due respect, I have never known the captain to disclose any type of personal information. I couldn't count the number of times she has kept injuries from me simply because she didn't think them 'relevant'.  Never underestimate this woman's ability to be extremely stubborn." The doctor said sternly. Chakotay just chuckled slightly. 

                My body's shaking was beginning to die down considerably. I felt as though I could almost move if I wanted too. Almost, being the operative word. Mind you I was so exhausted. I felt myself drifting off to sleep.

                "Commander, her vitals are finally returning to normal, but she'll need her rest. You can go for now." The doctor said

                "I won't be gone long. I just want to brief the senor officers on what happened. I'll be gone an hour at most." Chakotay said getting up. He laid me down on the bed.

                "Don't worry, I'll notify you the minute something changes." The doctor reassured him

                "Thank you." Chakotay said softly. Then I heard the doors swish open and then closed again. 

                The doctor was still working about sickbay, making lots of noise. At least this way I still knew that he was there, and that I was alive, a fact that I had to keep reminding my self. The lack of energy that I felt was hard to contend with. It made me feel as though I was dying.  It's hard when you have so little control over your own body and mind.

                Over time, the doctor's continuous racket actually put me to sleep, which I quickly came to realize would not be a good thing. The dreams I had the night before returned once more. This time they were more violent and more vivid, if that was even possible. And this time, _he_ was there. 

                "You never give up do you?" He said to me

                "It would be easier for me to speak with you if I knew a name." I stated angrily. 

                "You can call me Lothos for now." He smiled at me.

                "Alright Lothos, what do you want?" I asked him.

                "You already know what I want." Lothos said simply. The two of us were standing in my ready room, which was in ruins all around us.

                "I'm actually not entirely clear on that." I said honestly.  I sat down on what was left of my desk.

                "I want you to suffer as much as I have. Fortunately for the rest of your crew, none of them has to be hurt for me to make you hurt." He smiled evilly.

                "Is there nothing I can do to make you see that I am eternally sorry for what happened to your brother?" I said softly.

                "Don't you dare speak of him!" Lothos yelled. "You are not worthy to even think of him!" He shoved me off the desk hard. I hit the ground, my head bouncing off one of the bulkheads that lay on the ground. He walked over to me, picked me up and threw me against the far wall. "You are not worthy of anything but pain, and I will keep you alive until you have felt the pain of many lifetimes." He walked over to me lifted my chin so I was looking into his eyes. "We'll see how long you are able to keep strong for your crew after that Kathy."

                With that he turned and walked away. Or at least I thought he was. He turned once more to look at me. His eyes met with mine. They had an enormous amount of rage in them. A shot of pain so strong went through my body causing me to scream in pain. When I opened my eyes, I was back in sickbay. 

                Chakotay entered the room and rushed to my side. The doctor was already there.

                "Kathryn can you hear me?" Chakotay asked me.

                "Yes." I said softly.  I tried to sit up, but got a shot of pain through my entire body that caused me to cry out.

                "Captain take it easy, you're badly injured." The doctor said softly placing his hand on my shoulder to reassure me.

                "How the hell could she be injured when she's been here the entire time?" Chakotay asked accusingly.

                "I'm not entirely sure of anything that's going on anymore, commander. Nothing that has happened to this ship or it's captain, has made any sense." The doctor said sounding very annoyed and maybe even hurt that Chakotay suggested he would let harm come to me.

                "My dream." I stated. "I was badly injured in my dream."

                "Your dream?" The doctor asked, raising his eyebrows.

                I nodded. "Lothos. He said it would be more fun to cause me pain than to just out right kill me to avenge his brother."

                "You got a name from him?" Chakotay asked. He still looked horribly worried.

                "I can't guaranty it's his real name but it works a bit better than 'him' doesn't it." I smiled at Chakotay. 

                "It is, and considering we know nothing else about him, a big start." Chakotay nodded. He had a look of worry in his eye.

                "Would you care to tell us what happened earlier?" The Doctor stated more than asked. 

                Flashes of Chakotay covered in plasma burns returned to me and I flinched. "No." I stated softly. "It's not important."

                "I would have to disagree with you captain. It was more than just a slight shock to your system, and it would help me to better understand what happened to it, if I knew what happened to you." The doctor said. He examined me again with a medical tricorder  

                "It's not important what I saw." I stated again. Adding a bit of authority to it.

                "Captain I would have to agree with the doctor on this one. If there was something you saw that could send you into a state of shock like that, I think it very important that we know about it." Chakotay said. He had sensed my attempt to take authority over the situation and wasn't backing down that easily. He should have known me better than that.

                "I thank you both for your concern, but the matter is closed." I stated raising my voice. Doing so caused a sharp pain to go though my back and me to gasp because of it.

                "The matter is not closed Captain. This Lothos knows you well enough to know what kinds of sights would make you of no use to us. Maybe telling us what you saw would make it easier for us to help you fight him." Chakotay said his voice was softer this time.  I sighed. He had a point. Lothos was too strong for me to fight on my own, whether it was my fight or not.

"You." I sighed looking at Chakotay.  
"Me? You saw me, and that was enough to send you into shock?"  He had a smirk on his face. 

"For some women that's all it takes." The doctor remarked.

I took a deep breath, flinching at the pain in my back, but it was needed to ward away the visions that ran through my head.

"I was talking to Chakotay in my ready room when his face bust out into plasma burns. They continued to spread all over until he died in my arms." I said quietly and quickly.  The concern on both of their faces only grew.

"What about the dream you had last night?" Chakotay asked.

"It was the entire crew. I walked through the ship and all I saw were dead bodies. They were just going through their daily routine, and they never knew what hit them. It was all silence. Just silence." I whispered. I had done enough talking.

"Thank you captain." The doctor said returning to the medical table. Chakotay rested his hand comfortingly on mine.  "Commander you should brief the crew on what's happened. Let them know that the captain will be fine, although she'll be staying here until at least tomorrow. I don't wager I'd be able to hold her much longer than that anyway." Chakotay nodded and left sickbay for the bridge.

The doctor held a hypo spray in his hand when he walked back over to the bio bed. "I'm going to sedate you while I operate. No need to worry about dreams, this should put you right to a dreamless sleep." He pressed the hypo spray to my neck and almost instantly I was asleep.

I didn't believe the doctor when he said it would be a dreamless sleep, but I woke up and was unable to remember any of my dreams if there was any. I was also incredibly rested.

"Please be easy on your self." The doctor said as I was leaving sickbay.

First thing on the agenda for the day was a briefing. I wanted to know what was happening with the modifications and with the anomaly that Lothos had created.

"We were able to pull away captain, but this time it moved so it was still in front of us." B'Elanna reported. "I'm not sure there is a way to get away from it."

"The shield modifications went as planned, but we are still unsure if they will function _as_ planned." Seven said.

"Well it's a good sign that he isn't attacking the ship;" I said. "Although I don't like waiting to find out what will happen next." 

"You're not the only one who doesn't like the waiting." B'Elanna said shifting in her seat. "I don't see we can't just find a way to destroy the thing. There has got be some sort of gas we can ignite in there."

It was something that I hadn't actually thought of, and it almost seemed like a good idea. "I get the impression that Lothos is a smart being. Something like that he's probably already thought of, but I can't see any harm in looking. Harry?"

"I'll get a start on it right away captain." Ensign Kim said enthusiastically.

"Even if we find something, we're still going to need a way to protect you until then." Tom spoke up. "He has to have a weakness of some sort."

"I'm not sure that he does." Tuvok said, his eyes showed that he was deep in thought. "From what I've seen, the only weakness they have is mortality."

"Well he's not going to actually come on board the ship, he'd have to know we'd be waiting." B'Elanna commented.

"What if we somehow found a way to break the connection he has with the captain? That might force him to come aboard the ship to do the work himself." Neelix suggested. He seemed quite pleased with himself.

"These are both good options. Lets go over the sensor readings from the time of the last attack. There might be something in there that'll give us some help. B'Elanna, can you work with Harry and Tuvok? Three would be much better." Chakotay delegated.  The staff just nodded. 

"Dismissed." I said. The senior staff got up from their chairs and headed out of the room, with the exception of Seven and Chakotay who both stayed behind.

"Captain, I would like to do my own sensor analysis from astrometrics. There might be something we are missing about the area it's self." Seven said calmly. Something in her eyes looked unsettled, then again all of the crew did. Maybe I was just more surprised to see it in Seven's eyes. They were usually so calm.

"Alright. Report back to Commander Chakotay with you findings." I said. She gave a quick nod then turned and left. 

"How are you?" Chakotay asked me when the doors hissed shut.

"I'm okay, still a bit sore, but okay." I sighed honestly. 

"Did you want me to stay with you in your ready room? Just in case I mean."

"No. Someone needs to be out on the Bridge." I said shaking my head.

"What if something happens? Who's going to know?" There was more than a tinge of worry in his voice. I think I may have even detected some annoyance.

"Check on me every half hour then. I don't want someone hovering over my shoulder all the time."

"Kathryn, don't be like this. This isn't the time. Your life is in danger, it isn't time to go being independent and stubborn." He lectured.

I got up from my chair and looked out the window. He may have had a point, and part of me did want him near me at all times, but there was another part of me that just didn't want to show any weakness. That's what Lothos wanted. He wanted to tear me down.  I took a deep breath and let it out. There was a small pain in my back reminding me that I hadn't completely healed from the last attack.

"Alright. You can stay in my ready room with me. Although I must point out that Tuvok will have preferred it to be him, being chief of security and all." I smiled at him coyly. He simply smiled back, but gave a small nod of approval.

We headed out of the conference room and into the bridge.

"Commander Chakotay and I will be in my ready room, Tuvok you have the bridge." I said to my chief of security as I passed him, but I never reached my ready room.


	4. Part 4

          Disclaimer: We all know the drill, paramount is god, we are pawns *smiles* 

          Thought I'd try something a little different with this one. Two people point of view. I kinda took the assumption that the reader would be able to figure out who is who. Forgive me if I was wrong. I will separate them though with little **** …*smiles* 

I went from walking to my ready room to somehow bouncing off of a cold hard surface. When I landed on the floor, the blood that was trickling from my head had already made it to my mouth. 

          "That could be the last bit of liquid that you get for quite a while. You should savour it." I heard a cruel voice say. The voice didn't sound as though was coming from any specific direction more that it was all around me. 

          "Lothos." I said under my breath.

          "Yes Kathy?" his voice rang in my ears. 

          "What am I doing here?"

          "Divide and concur." He said. 

          "What does that mean?" There was no answer. "LOTHOS!" The room was quiet. 

          My head pounded so hard that it was the only thing I heard in my ears. I somehow through the pain managed to open my eyes and look around the room I was in. You really couldn't call it much of a room. More like a big metal box. The only thing that let in any light was a small window in the to right corner of the back wall. That was it. The rest of it was just all a smooth metal surface. 

*******

          Something in my heart told me something was wrong. I looked behind me to where Kathryn had been standing and was more than shocked to see her no longer there.

          "Tuvok." I said as calmly as I possibly could. 

          "Commander, there was no warning. One minute she was here, the next she wasn't." He said. The Vulcan worked as his station furiously, as did the young ensign on the other side of the room. 

          "Commander there was no signs of disturbance anywhere on the bridge in the last five minutes." Harry said. He had tried to hide it but I could sense the panic in his voice. He wasn't the only one that felt that way, but when it came to Kathryn I simply got used to putting a mask over it. 

          "Well she couldn't have just disappeared! She has to be somewhere here. Find her." 

I have my orders and then continued to her ready room hoping that she would be there. My heart more than sank when when she wasn't there. This whole thing had been ridiculous. There was no way that we could stop this thing from doing anything he wanted to her, and that bothered me than most people would ever know or understand. I picked up one of the pillows on the couch and threw it across the room in frustration, and just continued to do so until I ran out of pillows. 

A loud maniacal laughter came over the comm. system. 

"Divide and concur," Was all the voice said before fading out. 

I walked back out on to the bridge suddenly filled with a strange wave of hope.

******

          I found myself sitting on the cold floor once again, after an hour or maybe more of trying to see if maybe there was some seam or a way to make a door out of this place. My head hurt too much for me to stand for too much longer, so when it came to that sitting was a much better option. I know that I couldn't lay down, that would just encourage me to sleep, and the fact that every now and then my head started to bleed again just made me think that I was in worse shape then I had originally thought. 

          My feet were starting to get cold. The metal of the floor was draining the heat from me, and it didn't seem as though there was any heat coming in from the small window. 

          "Kathryn?" I heard a familiar voice call out. 

          "Chakotay?" 

          "Oh god what did he do to you?" He said. I felt him take my head in his hands. I tried to focus my eyes on him but they wouldn't, it hurt my head too much.

          "Are you really here?" I said. "Did you transport in? I would have thought that Lothos would have thought of that."

          "There was a hole in the field around the area. Harry was able to find a way to exploit it." Chakotay said. There was something not right about his voice. It was too, careful. 

          "Are you really here?" I asked again.

          "Yes Kathryn I am. This is bleeding too much, we need to get you out of here." He placed a piece of cloth on the cut on my forehead. 

******

          "What do you guys think? Am I completely crazy?" I looked at the senior staff sitting around the table. I couldn't tell if they thought that I had completely lost my mind or if they were with me on this. 

          "I think it is pretty much the only thing that could help us fight Lothos. The question is how to we get in contact with Q?" Tom asked. 

          "Logical question, normally people don't try to get in contact with us." Q said answering what I was sure was going to be our biggest problem. "Another great question would be why on earth would I want to help you?"

          "Q have you ever heard of this Lothos?" B'Elanna asked. I saw his eyes darken. 

          "What has he been doing now? Have you been pissing him off Chuckles?" Q said. 

          "No, but apparently Captain Janeway has." I answered.

          "Figures. She is quite feisty." I heard Tom chuckle quietly at the more than accurate description of his captain. "Speaking of which where is Kathy?"

          "We don't know." Harry answered. 

          "That's where you would come in." I said.

******

          I couldn't shake the feeling that something was completely not right with this situation. Why hadn't Chakotay explained to me what we were doing to get out of this place? Lothos was bound to realize sooner or later that he was there.

          "Chakotay you can't be here." I said finally.

          "We can't leave for another ten minutes when the hole opens up again." He explained. That wasn't soon enough.

          "No, Chakotay you can't be here. Lothos will realize that you're here. You can't be here." I kept repeating. I'm not sure why I kept repeating myself. The room had started to spin, making my stomach churn.

          "We can handle him for a short period of time." He said trying to reassure me.

          "Do you really think so?" I heard Lothos chime in. Chakotay tensed up beside me. I opened my eyes and looked around and couldn't see anything. "I see that your commander is getting a bit cocky."

          "Leave him alone." I said, although it wasn't much of a threat. I was too weak to do much of anything, and I'm sure that he knew that. 

          "Right cause you're in such a place to be giving me orders Kathy." He said. Although there was nothing there I felt something patting me on the hand.   

          "You aren't going to hurt her anymore." Chakotay said. I felt him get up from beside me, the coldness from the floor and walls and moved right into my bones now.

******

To be continued…

*note* If this was too confusing let me know and I'll try and figure out a way to put in some helpers. I'll try to get the next part done by the end of tomorrow.


	5. part 5

**_Disclaimer: I really don't own anything. I live in a box_**

There was a loud crunch sound and then a thud. I felt Chakotay land very close to me. I struggled against the pain in my head to open my eyes and look down at him. There was a large pool of blood gathering around his head. A sharp shot of pain through my head caused me to close my eyes, but the sight of Chakotay was still there as though my eyes were open.

"Even your knight in shinning armour couldn't help you. What will you do now Kathy?"

Lothos's voice echoed off the walls. "Do you even have a hope left?" I could hear his laughter deep inside my head, which only caused it to hurt more.

"Would you just go away?" I whispered. I put my hands over my ears in a futile attempt to drown out his voice. "If you want me to die get it over with already."

"Not die Kathy, suffer." He answered.

My thoughts turned to Chakotay's lifeless body inches away from me. Not completely convinced that it was lifeless, I opened my eyes again and reached for his neck to check for a pulse. My stomach churned when there was none.

"You said that no one else would get hurt." I said angrily. I pulled myself up with the wall to a standing position. Enough was enough.

* * *

"What makes you so sure I'd be willing to help you commander?" Q asked, using his usual condescending tone.

"You would be helping Captain Janeway." I argued.

"Right, that does make a difference." He said nodding. "Okay then, the second thing is there is no guarantee that I'll be able to find him."

I rubbed my forehead in frustration. If this weren't the only way to get Kathryn back and safe, and even get rid of Lothos, there wouldn't be a force in the universe that would get me to make such a request. Q was known to be more than a trickster. He was known to be a pain in the ass.

"Q agree or don't, just let us know now so we can come up with something else. We don't know how long he'll actually keep her alive for." B'Elanna said, not afraid to hold back the anger from her voice. I looked up and saw Tom put is hand on hers to show he was there and give his comfort. She noticed but was too distracted.

"He'll keep her alive for as long as she wants to be alive. I know Lothos, he's much more fond of torture than he is of murder. I'd be worried what state she'd be in when she gets back." Q commented. He sounded more serious then I think I had heard him sound since his first meeting with Captain Picard. He was never this serious when he was here anyway.

My stomach turned at his words. The thought of someone hurting Kathryn and not being able to help her myself was driving me insane. If I didn't think it such a stupid idea I would find her myself and get her away from that maniac.

"When she gets back? So you'll help us then?" Tuvok said catching the words that I did not. Tuvok might never admit it, but I knew that the only one that was coming close to what I was feeling having Kathryn out there, was him. Their friendship was very important to him.

"No Mr. Vulcan, I'm helping Janeway." With a flash Q was gone.

* * *

"You're not looking so good Kathy. You should sit down." Lothos said. I saw him now in front of me for the first time. He was a miserable looking thing, small, skinny, with extremely messy hair. The only thing worth noting were his eyes. His eyes were a cold steel grey that just seemed to burn into me. With a single hand gesture I was thrown to the cold metal ground once more.

"Bastard." Was all I said. He walked up to me grabbed me by the throat, picked me up and slammed me hard against the wall, all the time not letting go.

"That's quite a mouth you have there. Might get you into trouble one day." He said. The physical strength in him was quite surprising, and a bit unsettling considering his hand was currently cutting off my flow of air.

"You said…" I started, unable to finish because of the pressure.

"Just wanted to see how you'd react." He said smiling. I looked down and Chakotay wasn't there any more. Nothing was there, not even the blood. "Makes you wonder doesn't it? If you could be fooled by something like that, what else could be fake?"

My head started to spin, and ache even more then it was earlier. Something I didn't even know was possible. My eyes closed and just as they did Lothos threw me across the room. I hit the other wall hard enough to knock the wind out of me, but the real pain came when I landed. I was sure I heard something snap in my ankle.

"No sleeping on the job Kathy." He said. He started to come over to me again

"Stay away from me." I managed to get out although it was strained.

He just laughed, and continued over. He lifted me up again, this time by my shoulders, making sure to place most of my weight on the ankle I was now sure was broken. It was all I could do to not scream out in pain.

"You know as well as I do that I don't have to be any where near you to hurt you." He said to me. It seemed odd to me how the smile never left his face.

"But you have to be near me to hurt me." Another voice came from behind Lothos. I recognised it completely as Q's. If there was ever a time I was glad to hear from him this would be it.

"What are you doing here?" Lothos asked, his voice filled with hatred. Even with Q there he didn't let me go.

"Seems we've got a bit of a problem here. Kathy here is someone that I would rather not see hurt." Q said. He was staying completely calm something which agitated me slightly

"We do then." Lothos nodded. He turned back to face me and for the first time I think I actually saw defeat in his eyes. If it was there it was only there for a moment, because seconds later the hard hatred and anger was back. He smiled once more and something sharp went into my side. "Have fun you two." He said.

In seconds I saw Q do nothing more than punch Lothos and then Lothos crumpled to the ground. I lost my balance and did the same. I think some how the pain from the three injuries, cancelled each other out because all I felt was numb. Then there was a bright flash of light and I was back on Voyager and in sickbay. Q was no where to be found.

The doctor was at my side in only a few seconds with a tri-corder. His face grim and set to business, it was all I needed to let the sleep take over.

* * *

"Doctor what's going on?" I said rushing through the doors of sickbay.

"She has many injuries Commander, where would you like me to start?" The doctor said sounding more than frustrated.

"How about with the blade sticking out of her side?" I said starting to panic.

"How about why I can't get any of the injuries to respond to anything I'm using to heal them?" The doctor said, running to one of the stations. I just stood there staring at Kathryn's lifeless body.


End file.
